Back to the project, i used yesterday a cheap "green stuff" coming from a nursery school's stock ! i wanted to convert my first figurines painted many years ago (my style was between ugly and horrible), using light roman cavalry and gothic shock cav, with leftovers from many manufacturers (miniart, lucky toys...) to make border horseman with winter gear.

Chariobaude wrote:Back to the project, i used yesterday a cheap "green stuff" coming from a nursery school's stock !

What a coincidence: my wife came home with a present, she bought me exactly such a pack of clay for sculpting, she found it in the discount shop. I asked her: what is the purpose of the 'stone look' since I will use such clay for moulding only or in case of scenery it will be painted over. Erm.... she could not answer it. Well I still love her for bringing me that clay anyhow.

Now you made me curious: will this clay stay put on your figures?Or will it crumble, break and fall off?

At age 16 a friend of my showed me how to convert WO2 figures into ancients by cutting away gear and weapons and use soft 'cleaning' rubber eraser (used to remove charcoal drawing) for sculpting cloths. It worked pretty well. But never hardened. So we coated that soft stuff by a layer of white glue and painted it afterwards. 30 years later these figures are still in use. You can see hundreds of them at my pictures of the Gaugamela tabletop game.

easy to use, hard to sculpt (surely because it is the first time i try, and i didn't have any clue of what tools i needed)..Easy to use, because just adding a drop of water with your finger turns it wet and soft again.

Once dry, i can testify three days after it is still solid on the figurine, wthout problem.Main issue, the material seems to dry out over time, "drinking" the paint and especially providing a rough effect not necessarily welcome. It can be limited by wetting much the surface, but in the case of my coats I had to sacrifice the folds (for my lack of mastery i guess )Version 1, with folds :

Version 2 , without :

Version 3 : between the first two

Last but not least, i used it to create an arm and for that use it was a piece of cake :

conclusion : a raw material better for buildings than miniatures !I used it for wheat bags, and it is perfect.

There is really a lot of atmosphere in these photos, it looks really like a winter landscape (although, if I may say so, the snow does not exactly look like snow).I have also made some experiments with modeling clay now and then. I like the fact that one can use it immediately without any mixing or other preparations - in contrast to all those two-component puttys, where I always end up with unused leftovers that are going to the dustbin. However, the strong shrinkage of this water-based clay during drying is clearly a drawback IMHO.Perhaps you can cover it with a layer of varnish, or diluted withe glue, before painting to prevent the strong absoprtion of the paints. This will also make the surface smoother.

Man I am proud of you! In your attempts to make beautiful epic images, starting last year with lots of screaming artificial green fields and lots of blue or yellow electric light, you ended up now with some very strong, fantastic images. It is not exactly photo-realistic and may be it is not exactly what you had in mind when you created this, but what I see is a very nice and, in artistic ways, an expressive 'illustration'.Its partly realistic, partly abstract. And above all a strong and sensitive composition of shape and color. Apart from this pic there are other strong images in your weblog.

In your search for snow and fog, you came up with something that looks like a gouache painting made with a large brush. The horsemen are contrasting in a brilliant way to that. Sharpness and lighting are very good now too.An illustration from an adventurous historybook. Well done, well done.

WOWthat's a lot. Coming from both of you, your compliments are even more flattering. And in all sincerity, I thank you very much: I do not pretend to make such beautiful and complex works as yours (I would be incapable of doing so), but you are a source of inspiration and Encouragement that make me come back to this forum almost every day!I had a discussion with a friend recently about this: he did not want to put his figurines on this site, arguing that others did much better. I find it a mistake because I am as passionate about the technique as it is about the universe of a diorama, and even by its genesis and the work that was provided before.My favourite pic of the shoot :

To return to your feedbacks, yes I decided to give more personality to my photos. Having equipped this unit with heavy coats, it seemed obvious to me that a winter atmosphere, a bit foggy (it also hides the defects of the setting) would be perfect.For that, as said sberry, I used snow ... which is not actually snow! These are confections used by stores for their Christmas showcases. But it's obviously not to scale, so I planned to mix them when my wife has her back turned. Problem, the powder will hardly be reusable.

For the mist, I used padding material (found in an old teddybear), which more or less stretched can give an impression of mist. The effect is less successful when it is in the foreground ...

For the rest, I used a white packaging plastic a little transparent and lumpy on my "football field" dear to the heart of Mr Cryns! you can see the plastic on this image : Another novelty, I used ... natural light by installing my miniatures under a window, which avoids the spotlight effect, and by using a lamp only to try to render rays of light (total failure).All this is constrained by a crucial factor: time The shots were taken in less than an hour, the time that my kids returns from school. Ah, if I had a dedicated room, I could realize much more qualitative photos !!

sberry, i'll try next time to glue the clay, i will tell you the result !

Chariobaude wrote:you are a source of inspiration and Encouragement that make me come back to this forum almost every day!

As long as you show your desire to develop and improve your skills and work, it is my pleasure to support you and so does Sberry I presume.

Chariobaude wrote:he did not want to put his figurines on this site, arguing that others did much better.

Well of course we don't know what your friend's work looks like. Personally I am not a fan of posting everything online just for having posted it online. There is too much of the same stuff to find on the internet already. I am convinced posting work on the internet is only interesting when no body has ever shown something like it before, like new products, new goals in size ore historical accuracy are tried to achieve, new techniques or styles are used or borders and limits are crossed.Exactly like what you are doing and showing to us.

Chariobaude wrote:My favourite pic of the shoot :

Yes thats a great picture. Except for the left horseman with his foot half way the horses belly: you should try to lower that one down for some millimeters. Is it the cloak that erased the man from his saddle?

Chariobaude wrote: it seemed obvious to me that a winter atmosphere, a bit foggy (it also hides the defects of the setting) would be perfect.

Sure, good idea.

Chariobaude wrote:The effect is less successful when it is in the foreground ...

No I do not agree with you: I am convinced this teddy padding works well as fog as soon as it is out of focus. So in case of the fore ground; when you position this padding closer to the camera (which means: out of the focus range) it will get blurred and look like fog again in stead of frozen raspberry plants or smoke.You should try it before abolish it from your list of possibilities.

Chariobaude wrote:natural light by installing my miniatures under a window, which avoids the spotlight effec

Thank you very much for the flattering words! Actually, I think there is quite a number of people on this forum who are far better figure painters than me. But as you said:

Chariobaude wrote:I had a discussion with a friend recently about this: he did not want to put his figurines on this site, arguing that others did much better. I find it a mistake because I am as passionate about the technique as it is about the universe of a diorama, and even by its genesis and the work that was provided before.

I fully agree, one shouldn't shy away from presenting one's work here, only because others might be better. This forum is a community where people get inspiration from each others' work, and it is always interesting to look at those contributions.

thank you my sponsors !!! Mr Cryns, speaking about "crossing borders" I took a step further (the last one?), In our logic : no more use, no longer convert, but create the figs that we need. One thing very interesting is the diversity of responses to the same question. I observe with great attention and admiration the work of some of you who are transformed into sculptors.

My answer will be different, more technological. But also more "democratic", I would come back later on this point !

Meanwhile, allow me to entertain the mystery with this simple board. Answer on the feasibility of my project in a few weeks (i hope) !